U.S. Planned for Military Occupation of Cuba

The U.S. military drew up plans to occupy Cuba and establish a temporary government headed by a U.S. “commander and military governor” during the 1962 missile crisis, according to the recently declassified “Military Government Proclamation No. 1” posted today by the National Security Archive at The George Washington University.  

“All persons in the occupied territory will obey immediately and without question all enactments and orders of the military government,” stated the proclamation. “Resistance of the United States Armed Forces will be forcefully stamped out. Serious offenders will be dealt with severely,” it warned. “So long as you remain peaceable and comply with my orders, you will be subjected to no greater interference than may be required by military exigencies.”

Once the “aggressive Castro regime has been completely destroyed,” and the U.S. installed a new government “responsive to the needs of the people of Cuba,” the proclamation concluded, the U.S. armed forces would “depart and the traditional friendship of the United States and the government of Cuba will once more be assured.”